Question 1: (1) Street-level bureaucrats in the criminal justice system share a variety of characteristics, including direct citizen interaction, bureaucratic discretion, autonomy, inadequate resources, excessive demand for services, vague and difficult to measure work goals, clients who are involuntary involved with the system, and work that is subject to public accountability. How do these characteristics affect the work of those on the front lines of the criminal justice system, both for better and for worse? (2) Many aspects of bureaucracy constrain the work of those in the criminal justice system, including specialization, division of labor, formal rules, regulations and the law: what is known as the state-agent narrative. At the same time, other aspects of their work, including professional experience, autonomy, and agency culture allow workers a greater degree of discretion: the citizen-agent narrative. Discuss the tensions between these two narratives. Is it more appropriate for these officials to follow the state-agent or the citizen-agent narrative when carrying out their work in the criminal justice system? (3) Accountability manifests itself in different ways for those working in the criminal justice system. The criminal justice worker is accountable to whom and why? Discuss the differences between top-down and bottom-up accountability. Which, in your opinion, is more important for street-level bureaucrats implementing policy in the criminal justice system? (4) What are the antecedents of the often held belief that immigrants are more likely to commit crimes than nonimmigrants? (5) What data most clearly refute this belief? (6) What strategies could be employed to counteract the myths about immigrants and crime?
Question 2: Read the 3 assigned journal articles and answer the 3 sets of journal article questions provided below.
First Journal Article and Assigned Questions: “Measuring the Impact of Police Discretion on Official Crime Statistics: A Research Note”
Identify the three research questions as stated by the authors.
Identify the type of analysis that was used to predict the effect of the independent variables on the likelihood of discovering contraband.
What are some of the important issues that the typical conceptualization of police experience highlight?
What were the key findings and policy implications of this study?
What type of analysis was used by the authors?
Identify the dependent variables, and explain how they were measured.
Identify the research hypothesis, and state whether they were invalidated or supported by the studys findings.
What were the key findings and policy implications of this study?
Second Journal Article and Assigned Questions: “Collaboration between Federal and Local Law Enforcement: An Examination of Texas Police Chiefs’ Perceptions”
What is the authors goal?
What instruments were used to collect the data for the study? Identify the sample populations.
Identify the independent variables and their levels of measurement and identify what measures were taken to avoid problems with data and extreme scores?
What were the key findings and policy implications of this study?
Third Journal Article and Assigned Questions: “Demographic Change and Ethnically Motivated Crime: The Impact of Immigration on Anti-Hispanic Hate Crime in the US”
Identify the research hypothesis as stated by the author and what sources were used to collect data?
What is Blalocks (1967) minority threat thesis, and what does it predict?
Do the findings support or reject the authors hypothesis and the minority threat thesis?
What were the key findings and policy implications of this study?
Question 3: (1) What is a mandatory arrest policy? How does it differ from pro-arrest and discretionary arrest policies? What factors led to the adoption of mandatory arrest policies in the United States? (2) What types of unintended consequences do mandatory arrest policies have? Who is most likely to experience these unintended consequences? Can you think of other unintended consequences not discussed in this chapter? (3) The domestic violence arrest policies for each state are published online. What type of arrest policy does your state have? What types of incidents are included in that policy? Are police mandated to arrest in cases of same-sex intimate partner violence and/or intimate partner violence in dating relationships in your state? (4) Given the benefits and costs of mandatory arrest policies identified by Durfee, do you think that your state should mandate arrest? Why or why not? (5) Discuss the key distinctions between forms of drug policy (criminalization, de facto legalization, decriminalization, legalization, harm reduction). What is the dominant form of drug policy in the United States? (6) Discuss racial disparities in the application/enforcement of drug laws in the United States. Why do these disparities exist (and persist)? (7) There are indications that U.S. drug policies may be softening. Discuss the reasons for this, and examine recent developments in drug policies in your state.
Question 4: Read the 4 assigned journal articles and answer the 4 sets of journal article questions provided below.
First Journal Article and Assigned Questions: “Twenty Years of Mandatory Arrest”
Identify the situational variables used in the study.
What are the authors four research hypotheses?
What are some of the methodological issues that the authors faced?
What were the key findings and policy implications of this study?
Second Journal Article and Assigned Questions: “When an Arrest is not an Arrest: Exceptionally Clearing Cases of Intimate Partner Violence”
Identify the three research questions as stated by the authors.
Identify the type of analysis that was used in the study.
What was the statistical significance of all the variables used in the study?
What were the key findings and policy implications of this study?
Third Journal Article and Assigned Questions: “Should Violent Offenders be Excluded from Drug Court Participation?”
What are the goals of the study?
Identify all of the statistical tests that were used in the study.
How did the authors define violent offender?
What are the limitations of the study? What were the key findings and policy implications of this study?
Fourth Journal Article and Assigned Questions: “Success of Drug Court Programs”
Identify the four hypotheses as stated by the authors.
Identify the sample population used in the study.
What are the dependent variables and how were they measured?
What were the key findings and policy implications of this study?
Question 5: (1) What are magic bullets and how does this concept explain limitations of programs dealing with gangs? (2) What role has the media played in inflating the gang problem? (3) What did Jacqueline Montañez mean by her statement: I did what you said I did, but I’m not who you say I am? Why does it matter? In what ways can stereotypes of gangs actually cause harm? (4) How have states in the United States changed the way they respond to youth crime in recent decades? (5) How do current juvenile waiver policies reflect change in the treatment of delinquent youth? (6) What are the advantages and disadvantages of prosecuting juveniles in adult courts?
Question 6: Read the 4 assigned journal articles and answer the 4 sets of journal article questions provided below.
First Journal Article and Assigned Questions: “The Influence of Prison Gang Affiliation on Violence and Other Prison Misconduct”
How do the authors define gang members?
Identify the sample population used in the study.
Identify the dependent variables and how they were measured.
What were the key findings and policy implications of this study?
Second Journal Article and Assigned Questions: “Antigang Legislation and its Potential Impact: The Promises and the Pitfalls”
What is the purpose of this article?
What are the three strategies that have been developed to deal with gangs?
What are some of the methodological issues that scholars face when defining gang membership?
What were the key findings and policy implications of this study?
Third Journal Article and Assigned Questions: “Adult Crime, Adult Time”
What is the purpose of the study?
What are the independent and dependent variables and how were they measured? What type(s) of statistical analysis were used in the study?
How was incarceration defined?
What were the key findings and policy implications of this study?
Fourth Journal Article and Assigned Questions: “The Decertification of Transferred Youth”
What is the purpose of the study?
Identify the sample population used in the study.
What are the limitations of using decertification as a dependent variable?
What were the key findings and policy implications of this study?
Question 7: (1) There is a great deal of controversy surrounding civil commitment laws. Explain the controversy. (2) How do sex offender recidivism rates and patterns compare to criminals convicted of nonsexual offenses? (3) Describe the similarities and differences between the Jacob Wetterling Act, Megan’s Law, and the Pam Lychner Act. (4) Which arguments do you find most and least compelling regarding the concept of the supermax? Can you identify an argument for or against supermax prisons that was not identified in this chapter? (5) What is the ideal mission statement and architectural design for a supermax in your state prison system? What specific suggestions can you give to correctional policy makers who are considering building a supermax in a state where one does not yet exist? (6) Do you feel there is a need for supermax prisons for female inmates? Why or why not?
Question 8: Read the 4 assigned journal articles and answer the 4 sets of journal article questions provided below.
First Journal Article and Assigned Questions: “Recidivism Rates of Sexual Offenders up to 7 years Later”
What are the issues with conceptualizing recidivism?
How do the authors define sexual recidivism?
Identify the primary research question as stated by the authors.
What were the key findings and policy implications of this study?
Second Journal Article and Assigned Questions: “The Effects of Sexual Offender Registration and Notification on Judicial Decisions”
What is the primary research question as stated by the authors.
How were the variables operationalized?
What were the limitations of the study?
What were the key findings and policy implications of this study?
Third Journal Article and Assigned Questions: “Parole, Snitch, or Die: California’s Supermax Prisons and Prisoners, 1997-2007”
Identify the primary research questions as stated by the author.
How does Californias prison system differ from other states?
Identify the racial/ethnic group that has spent the most time in California SHUs.
What were the key findings and policy implications of this study?
Fourth Journal Article and Assigned Questions: “What Makes you the ‘Worst of the Worst?’ An Examination of State Policies Defining Supermaximum Confinement”
What is the purpose of the study?
What methodological issue has limited the generalizability of studies’ findings?
How do the authors define escape risk?
What were the key findings and policy implications of this study?
Question 9: (1) Discuss the three procedural reforms to the death penalty made by the Court in the case Gregg v.Georgia. (2) In Furman, the Court overturned the death penalty, arguing that it was arbitrary and discriminatory. Has the practice of capital punisment today resolved the concerns of the Furman court? Why or why not? (3) Discuss the feasibility of the suggested reforms to capital punishment. What is needed from the criminal justice system in order to satisfy these concerns? (4) Historically, changes in correctional practices are caused by changes in social or political ideology. However, the authors argue that the unique economic climate contributed to changes in correctional practices. What does this tell us about the nature of criminal justice policy in general and correctional practices in particular? (5) The authors discuss how substance abuse hinders an ex-offender’s ability to maintain employment, secure suitable and sustainable housing, and adhere to his or her conditions of community supervision. Strict enforcement of substance-free supervision conditions can lead to high levels of revocation and inflate recidivism rates. What policy changes should be implemented to ensure adherence with supervision conditions and limit supervision revocations while being aware of the realities of addiction? (6) What role, if any, should policy play in reconciling the polarity between the social work and the law enforcement approaches to community-based corrections? (7) Which aspects of current correctional policies impede the development of therapeutic relationships between the community corrections officers and ex-offenders under their supervision? What policies should be enhanced or eliminated to endure the development of therapeutic relationships within the correctional context?
Question 10: Read the 4 assigned journal articles and answer the 4 sets of journal article questions provided below.
First Journal Article and Assigned Questions: “The Impact of Information on Death Penalty Support, Revisited”
What are the authors examining?
Identify the sample population used in the study.
Identify the three research hypotheses as stated by the authors.
What were the key findings and policy implications of this study?
Second Journal Article and Assigned Questions: “A Critique of Contemporary Death Penalty Abolitionism”
What are the authors two primary goals?
Identify some of the arguments for the abolition of the death penalty.
What conception of sovereignty is used by the ACLU, and how does it differ from modern day sovereignty?
What were the key findings and policy implications of this study?
Third Journal Article and Assigned Questions: “Halfway Back: An Alternative to Revocation for Technical Parole Violators”
Identify the primary research questions as stated by the authors. Identify the dependent and independent variables and how they were measured.
What did the authors examine in the study?
How were parole violators and technical violation defined?
What were the key findings and policy implications of this study?
Fourth Journal Article and Assigned Questions: “Predictors of Law Enforcement Agencies’ Perceptions of Partnerships with Parole Agencies”
What is the purpose of this study?
How was police-correction partnership defined?
Identify the sample population. What type(s) of analyses were used in the study?
What were the key findings and policy implications of this study?
